'I lead with condoms and honesty': Charlie Sheen writes an open letter about being HIV-positive

Following Charlie Sheen’s announcement that he’s HIV-positive on the “Today” show, NBC has shared an open letter from the actor about discovering his status and his life since then.

“The news was a ‘mule kick’ to my soul,” Sheen wrote of his diagnosis around four years ago.

But after starting treatment under his doctor and the “leading infectious disease expert in the known universe,” Sheen says, the virus went into “remission.”

“Like every other challenge in my life, again, I was victorious and kicking this disease’s arse,” he wrote.

Sheen then goes on to talk about when he “chose (or hired) the companionship of unsavoury and insipid types.” Sheen alleges that women he had sex with who knew of his HIV status shook him down for money. “To date, I have paid out countless millions to these desperate charlatans,” Sheen wrote.

The actor claims he has always been forthright about his HIV status to his partners since being diagnosed, although his former girlfriend Bree Olson alleges he did not tell her while they were living together, despite the fact that they were sleeping together “every single night.”

“Regardless of their salt-less reputations, I always lead with condoms and honesty when it came to my condition,” he wrote. “Sadly, my truth soon became their treason, as a deluge of blackmail and extortion took center stage in this circus of deceit.”